Another award for GIS professional

Business Systems Analyst – GIS at the City of Busselton, James Spath, continues to shine in the field of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), so much so that he has been awarded the National Award of Professional of the Year by the Surveying and Spatial Sciences Institute (SSSI).

The award positions Mr Spath at the top of this rapidly changing and dynamic field of information technology, and follows a memorable 12 months in which he also won the SSSI WA Professional of the Year, and the National Award at the 2013 Asia Pacific Spatial Excellence Award ceremony in Canberra.

Mr Spath said the City of Busselton had integrated GIS into pretty much all of their Business Systems.

“It helps everyone answer questions and solve problems by being able to look at a mix of data in a way that is quickly understood and easily shared.“If people can see ‘where’ something is, it all becomes so much clearer.”

With the Local Government (LG) GIS Focus Group in WA, through strong leadership, technical skills and example, Mr Spath has effectively combined members’ strengths into one collective GIS resource which has made a lasting improvement within LG GIS in WA.

Through the group, numerous common problems are solved with the help of Mr Spath and his fellow professionals.

Mr Spath’s professional success and industry recognition reflects positively on the City of Busselton and, in particular, the City’s Information Technology team.

Director of Finance and Corporate Services, Matthew Smith, said the work Mr Spath had done for the City over the past five years had made a lasting difference to the way the City undertakes business and how it plans for future development.

“The City of Busselton has some enormously talented professionals – people, like James, who are at the top of their field and are recognised State and Nationwide.

“James is part of a dynamic team of IT professionals here at the City but he is also the ‘go to’ person for GIS professionals in Local Government across the state.”

Picking up the National Award reaffirms the value the wider GIS community places in Mr Spath’s assistance to the whole GIS industry through his considerable technical ability and his generous attitude towards sharing all his discoveries and solutions with anyone who requests help.